Pens for Paws Auction!

The Pens for Paws Auction, benefiting a no-kill, cage-free sanctuary called Fat Kitty City, starts July 14th! If you're a writer looking to bid on a critique with agents, authors, or an editor, you should check it out. We also have signed books and ARCs up for bid, and lots of other cool stuff! Entangled Publishing and Spencer Hill Press even have packages of goodies you won't want to miss. This year, we've even added door prizes--everyone who bids each day will be entered into a drawing for a door prize book (not one of the items up for bid--this is a separate offering) that day.

The auction items will post July 14-19, and instructions on how to bid is in the comments area of each item, or go to How It Works for more help. Hope to see you all there!

Pens for Paws Auction Will Run July 14-19, 2014

This year, I won't be able to hold the Pens for Paws Auction in the spring, but I found a gap in my schedule for July. So it's on for July 14-19, yay! But I'm worried that people will already be committed for their charity activities if I wait until summer to send out requests, so I'll be sending them out over the next month or so during breaks in my WIP revisions.

If you'd like to donate, here is the info:

After raising over $2,200 dollars for Fat Kitty City in 2013, let's make 2014 even bigger for the Pens for Paws Auction! Items will be posted on the Pens for Paws blog from July 14 through the 18th, with bidding open for TWO days on each item.

Donations will be accepted through July 10, but the earlier you can let me know what you'd like to donate the better, so that I can get everything scheduled ahead of time. Please keep the following in mind as you consider what you would like to donate:

• The donor is responsible for postage/mailing their item to the winner. Please take that into consideration for the value of your item.
• Minimum bids will not be set on any items. This may mean that your item goes for less than you expected, but it also allows people (including kids) who may not have as much funds available to participate

So what kinds of items are we looking for?

• Books: signed editions, ARCs, swag (bookmarks, postcards, tie-ins), etc. In addition to individual writers stepping up, we've also had group bloggers, or writers from the same publisher, offer a collection of books and that's a lot of fun.
• Critiques or editorial services: these generate a lot of interest on their own, or you may want to donate a critique along with your book. Or, maybe you know your agent loves animals too and think they're more likely to say yes to offering a critique if one of their clients is asking, you can go in on a critique with them.
• Artwork: prints, jewelry, crochet, knitwork, custom art or web design. Remember you will likely be mailing it, so large items or fragile items may not be the best choice.
• Your item does not need to be cat- or pet-oriented--it's all good!

 If you'd like to donate something for the auction, please copy and paste the questions below, along with your answers, into an email to pensforpawsauction (at) yahoo (dot) com . You may also attach a photo of the item to use for the listing.

What is the item you'd like to donate? (short description for listing title)

Your name (as you wish it to appear in the listing)

Your contact info (email address is fine; if you need a tax letter, we will need a mailing address. No addresses are added to a list--they will be used strictly for correspondence regarding your item)

 Item description (for the actual listing--may include whether it's signed, a special edition, back copy of book, etc)

Ship to U.S. addresses only, or open internationally? (obviously not an issue with items that will be fulfilled electronically, but international postage can add up so some donors choose to limit the shipping domestically)

Attaching a photo? You may also include a link to the photo you'd like to use if it's already on the web.


Thank you!

OA Today

I'm on Operation Awesome today, with a successful query example and a call for queries to critique!

Click on over and check it out! And don't forget that we have a Mystery Editor Contest coming up Dec. 1!

OA Today with a Query Critique

I'm over on Operation Awesome today with our latest query critique! Please go check it out and offer some support for our brave volunteer, Maribeth Graham!

Last day to enter to get your query critiqued on OA today!

On September 16, we put out a call on Operation Awesome for brave souls who would like to have their query critiqued, and today (September 23) is the last day to enter! The winner will be emailed and tweeted with the news on the 24th, and the query with comments will go up on September 30.

If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, go enter! And good luck!

Westercon, and Query Crit on OA Today

Our second query critique is up on Operation Awesome today if you'd like to check it out! After you read this riveting blog post here, of course.

My husband and I went to Westercon over the weekend, and although he refused to dress up like Commander Ryker (hey, I was willing to try for Deanna Troy) we had a good time.

This was the first fan con that I've been to; I generally do writers' conferences and then I did a storytelling conference years ago. I only found out about Westercon because my friend Karen Sandler posted on Facebook that she was going to be on some panels there. And good thing she did, because otherwise I would have missed out on getting her to sign my book (yes, we do see each other outside of conferences, but I don't always carry a copy of her book around with me, lol).

Awakening is the second book in Karen's YA trilogy, which started with Tankborn, and now I'm re-reading Tankborn to refresh my memory before diving into book two.

I attended most of the panels to do with writing and publishing (found out about Westercon too late to sign up for the writer's workshop), many of which were concentrated on self-publishing, e-pubbing, and small presses. Got some great links and resources out of it, but I'd like to add some resources of my own here . . .

One of the panels was on using sf/fantasy in the classroom and they talked about K-12, but I noticed that most of the books they were talking about for the high school level were titles like Farenheit 451, 1984, and Brave New World. Valid books, all, but I must've not been the only one who noticed that the most recent book they mentioned was written 25 years ago because another audience member asked for more recent YA sf titles.

And the panel was stumped (they said they don't deal with YA as much). It was as they were wrapping and I didn't have a chance to speak up, but I did go up to the person who had asked the question and provided some YA sf titles that I'd read:

Beth Revis's series (starts with Across the Universe)
Veronica Roth's series (starts with Divergent)
James Dashner's Maze Runners series
Mike Mullin's Ashfall series
Paolo Bacigalupi's series (starts with Ship Breakers)
Scott Westerfield's Uglies series and Leviathin books
Marie Lu's series (starts with Legend)
Marissa Meyer's series (starts with Cinder)
Feed by M.T. Anderson (this one's actually on my TBR list)

There are so many more, of course, but these are the ones that occurred to me during the panel or right afterwards. If there was a Westercon in Sacramento in the near future (it moves to different cities), I'd definitely be proposing a panel on YA sf and fantasy!

Saturday was the masquerade but we left well before it started. I did manage to catch a few cool costumes with my camera phone though:

Would like to have seen what else people came up with, but I was tired from only two days of this! Kudos to the people who stuck it out for all four days. Since it's only about a 40 minute drive from our place, we opted to do the day trip thing.

So who would you have dressed up as, if you had unlimited time and money to make a costume?

Query Critique on OA Today

If you'd like your query critiqued by Yours Truly, head on over to Operation Awesome by June 30 and enter the Rafflecopter. One name will be randomly chosen to have their query critiqued on the OA site!

Pens for Paws Auction Starts Tomorrow!

The madness starts tomorrow! Well, madness for me and goodness for you, with the start of the Pens for Paws Auction to raise money for Fat Kitty City, a no-kill animal shelter in El Dorado Hills, Ca.

I volunteer there, and we have over 100 cats at the sanctuary, plus more in foster homes. We rescue dogs too, as foster homes allow, and currently have listings for 7 dogs. So if you're looking to adopt, check out the adoption page.

But if the timing's wrong for adoption, you can still help the sanctuary while helping your writing self at the same time! Going up for bid are critiques by agents and authors, signed books, swag, etc. Including an amazing critique, book, and swag package from Operation Awesome!

So tune in to the Pens for Paws Auction site starting Tuesday the 12th, with new items going up every day through the 16th. For a list of what's to come, see the teaser page.

Pens for Paws Auction 2013

Pre-script: I mentioned I'd have a big announcement this week, and as big as this is, it's not it. That will come tomorrow, so check back! Now on to today's post:

Last year, I decided I needed to do something extra to help out the cat sanctuary where I volunteer, Fat Kitty City. I started up the Pens for Paws Auction and contacted agents, authors, and artists to see if they'd like to donate items to help out. And the response was overwhelming! So many great items to bid on, and we raised over $2,600 in much-needed funds. So I'm running the auction again this year and am now accepting donations:

 
Let's make 2013 even bigger for the Pens for Paws Auction! Items will be posted on this blog from March 12th through the 16th, with bidding open for TWO days on each item.

Donations will be accepted through March 10, but the earlier you can let me know what you'd like to donate the better, so that I can get everything scheduled ahead of time. Please keep the following in mind as you consider what you would like to donate:

• The donor is responsible for postage/mailing their item to the winner. Please take that into consideration for the value of your item.
• Minimum bids will not be set on any items. This may mean that your item goes for less than you expected, but it also allows people (including kids) who may not have as much funds available to participate

So what kinds of items are we looking for?

• Books: signed editions, ARCs, swag (bookmarks, postcards, tie-ins), etc
• Critiques or editorial services: these generate a lot of interest on their own, or you may want to donate a critique along with your book
• Artwork: prints, jewelry, crochet, knitwork, custom art or web design
• Your item does not need to be cat- or pet-oriented--it's all good!

If you'd like to donate something for the auction, please copy and paste the questions below, along with your answers, into an email to pensforpawsauction (at) yahoo (dot) com . You may also attach a photo of the item to use for the listing.

What is the item you'd like to donate? (short description for listing title)

Your name (as you wish it to appear in the listing)

Your contact info (email address is fine; if you need a tax letter, we will need a mailing address. No addresses are added to a list--they will be used strictly for correspondence regarding your item)

 Item description (for the actual listing--may include whether it's signed, a special edition, back copy of book, etc)

Ship to U.S. addresses only, or open internationally? (obviously not an issue with items that will be fulfilled electronically, but international postage can add up so some donors choose to limit the shipping domestically)

Attaching a photo? You may also include a link to the photo you'd like to use if it's already on the web.


Thank you!
 

Pens for Paws Auction

Some of you may know that I volunteer for a great cat sanctuary, Fat Kitty City, in El Dorado Hills, California. This year for my blogiversary, instead of a giveaway I've decided to do a fundraiser for these deserving animals!

The Pens for Paws Auction will start May 7, but I'm starting the call for donations now. What kinds of things am I looking for?

*Books and swag: signed editions, advanced reader's copies, collections of print or ebooks, and swag like bookmarks, tote bags, etc.

*Artwork: prints or custom artwork, or a custom avatar or portrait for use on a website or blog, jewelry, crochet or knitwork

*Critiques for artists or writers, or editorial services

*Your item doesn't need to be cat- or pet-oriented; it's all good!

I'm personally raiding my own book collection and putting up some ARCs and first editions! If you'd like to check out the auction site, it's still under construction, but the form for donating items is up and running. Please consider helping out the kitties!

Thank you!

The Importance of Joining a Critique Group

One of the benefits I've gotten from joining the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators is connecting with four other members for a YA critique group. We meet every few weeks and are focusing on novel-length works. It's helped get me out of the comfort zone that developed with my book, and gave me that extra little push.

In fact, I wrote an article about our group for the local SCBWI chapter's June newsletter, The Acorn. You'll find it on page 4.

Contest to win a manuscript critique from Barbara Poelle

Yes, that's a critique from Slithery Barbara Poelle, a coveted agent. This contest is through Sophie Littlefield's blog.

First prize is the critique, a signed copy of A Bad Day for Pretty by Sophie Littlefield, and some racy nail polish. Enter your first 5 sentences by following the instructions.

Notice that there are 3 separate rounds you can enter, so you can enter more than one work that way. I'm entering today, so that will be part of round two.

Luck, everyone! (A typo made that read "Lick, everyone!" the first time I typed it. That works for me, too.)